Rampage powerbombs opponent in HS wrestling match

Most fighters acquire their fight name after they become fighters. No one called Wanderlei Silva ‘The Axe Murderer’ when he was 8. It took Kevin Ferguson decades to pick up the ‘Kimbo Slice’ name.

Not so with former UFC light heavyweight champion Quinton ‘Rampage’ Jackson. The name was bestowed upon him by a cousin, and was inspired by a 1986 arcade game by Bally Midway. Players take control of gigantic monsters trying to survive against onslaughts of military forces. Each round is completed when a particular city is completely reduced to rubble.

That was 30 years ago, when ‘Page was just 8 years old.

A video has recently surfaced of Jackson in a wrestling match when he was 17, executing a ferocious Powerbomb.

While slams are forbidden under the folkstyle rules that govern wrestling in US highschools and colleges, Jackson noted that the match was under freestylee rules that in fact encourage amplitude.

“I see people are posting my high school wrestling video, and putting their tags on it,” wrote Rampage on Instagram. “Just so the MMA fans know, my name has been Rampage since I was about 8, and I’ve always power bombed fools. It was freestyle, and a legal take down. It was just that nobody has ever seen it before. The ref called it 5 points and a pin, but his coach complained, and the didn’t give me the points.”

Jackson would go on from Raleigh-Egypt High School in Memphis, Tennessee to wrestle at Lassen Community College in Susanville, California. Unfortunately, Jackson was expelled for fighting with a teammate. Fortunately, he discovered mixed martial arts, where the impulse to fight can be channelled productively.

And Rampage has been slamming fools ever since, including arguably the most famous KO slam of all time, vs. Ricardo Arona at Pride Critical Countdown 2004.

Following and extended back and forth fight for his contract between Bellator MMA and the UFC, ‘Page ended up in Bellator, and most recently won a split decision over Satoshi Ishii on June 24, 2016 at Bellator 157.

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